Tuesday, August 26, 2014

AUGUST 26, 2014

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!
1946 - Valerie Simpson, songwriter and singer with the Capitol Records duo Ashford and Simpson (1982-1989), is born in The Bronx, New York.

ON THIS DAY IN CAPITOL RECORDS HISTORY
1967 - Bobbie Gentry's Capitol Records single "Ode To Billie Joe", the flipside of her debut single "Mississippi Delta", knocks The Beatles' Capitol Records single single "All You Need Is Love", with "Baby You're A Rich Man" on the flipside, out of the #1 spot on Billboard's Hot 100 Singles chart
1968 - Apple Records releases The Beatles' single "Hey Jude", with "Revolution" on the flipside. The single is distributed by Capitol Records in the United States.
1968 - Merle Haggard records the track "I Take A Lot Of Pride In What I Am" at The Capitol Tower Studios in Hollywood, California
40 Years Ago Today In 1974 - Capitol Records releases Unicorn's single "Ooh! Mother", with "Bogtrotter" on the flipside. Both tracks are produced by Pink Floyd guitarist David Gilmour.
1997 - Matador Records, with distribution by Capitol Records, releases the 2 CD compilation "What's Up Matador" with one disc of unreleased materials and one disc of greatest hits from artists on the Matador label. The sticker on the album says "Do Not Pay More Than $10".

ON THIS DAY NOT QUITE IN CAPITOL RECORDS HISTORY
1968 - At the EMI Sales Convention, a promotional film for Apple Records is shown which includes footage of The Beatles in Abbey Road Studios, Paul McCartney doing acoustic versions of "Blackbird" and "Helter Skelter", and Paul with Mary Hopkins both in Abbey Road Studios and his home. The footage of "Blackbird" appears on the video version of "The Beatles Anthology".
20 Years Ago Today In 1994 - Collectibles Records releases Capitol Records recording group The Magnificent Men's compilation album "Golden Classics" on CD
2001 - The last rerun of "The Bozo Super Sunday Show" airs at 7:00 a.m. CT on WGN in Chicago, Illinois. Capitol Records sold the rights to Bozo to Larry Harmon who trained Bozos, and licensed cartoons, for local stations throughout the U.S. The Chicago version was the last one on the air.

ON THIS DAY NOT IN CAPITOL RECORDS HISTORY
1930 - Lon Chaney, Sr. (born Leonidas F. Chaney), motion picture actor ("The Phantom Of The Opera", "The Hunchback Of Notre Dame", etc.) and father of motion picture actor Lon Chaney, Jr. ("The Wolfman"), dies at age 47 of cancer.

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This blog contains information, that I gather daily, about the history of Capitol Records, related labels, The Capitol Records Tower, and other pop culture events and anniversaries.
Please contact me if you have any corrections, comments and/or facts you'd like to share.
To see some great photos of the opening of The Capitol Tower and to get a quick overview of Capitol's early history check out the archive for April 2006.

THE MELLOWAIRES?

I'm trying to track down who was in this group. They sang backup for Martha Tilton and Johnny Mercer at Capitol's first session on April 6, 1942 and at other sessions up until July 31, 1942, (the day before the recording ban went into effect) when the backed Freddie Slack and His Orchestra, Ella Mae Morse, Johnny Mercer and Margaret Whiting.Every listing for them just gives the group's name and, so far, none of the curators at the libraries that house the papers of Johnny Mercer, Dave Dexter, Jr., Jo Stafford and Paul Weston's collections, who really went all out to search, have been able to track down the group's roster.The Mellowaires also made two three minute "soundies" in 1942, "Cocktails For Two" with Bob Hughes and "LullabyIn Swing" on their own, copies of which are in the UCLA Film and Television Archives.Any help identifying anyone in this group would be much appreciated.